The UK model of incentive regulation of power grids was at one time the most advanced, and elements of it were adopted throughout the EU. This model worked well, particularly in the context of limited investment and innovation, a single and strong regulatory authority, and limited coordination between foreign grid operators. This enlightening book shows that since 2010 the whole context has changed and regulation has had to catch-up and evolve. The EU is entering a wave of investment, and an era of new services and innovation which has created growing tensions between national regulatory authorities in terms of coordinating technical standards and distribution systems. This is being played out against an increasingly disruptive backdrop of digitzation, new market platforms and novel business models.

All good things must come to an end…
This phrase also holds in M&A markets that have
historically been characterized by a wave pattern. While
the most recent global wave started around five years
ago, a turning point might have been reached. The
global amount spent on acquisitions increased further in
2018 to almost $4 trillion, despite a very strong drop in
deal volume during the final quarter. The sudden plunge
in deal activity seems to be driven by political and
economic uncertainties rather than financial constraints,
with a cost of borrowing staying at a historically low
level and dry powder at private equity funds reaching
a record level of $2 trillion (Bain & Company Global PE
report). The results of our own Belgian M&A monitor
confirm that deal activity surged in 2018 but, at the
same time, the surveyed experts largely expect a
stabilising market in the year to come.
Interestingly, some remarkable changes can be
observed in motives driving Belgian M&A transactions.
Whereas realising economies of scale stays the number
one acquisition reason, other motives, like gaining new
technologies and attracting talent (or “acqui-hires”),
have increased significantly in importance over the past
years. Deal drivers in private equity transactions remain
constant with a buy-and-build approach as preferred
value creating strategy. In addition, we observe a
significant decline in the fraction of cross-border deals
by Belgian acquirers from 36% to 25%.
The major contribution of our yearly M&A monitor is
that we present unique insights into the specific Belgian
M&A setting that is particularly characterized by small
and mid-market deals. While only limited information
is publicly available on mid-market M&A, virtually no
data is published for really small transactions. Therefore,
we present a separate category of data for deals with
a transaction value below €1 million for the first time.
Remarkably, the surveyed professionals are much more
positive on growth expectations in this segment of the
market with 2 out of 3 respondents expecting a further
growth in 2019. The intensified competition in the midmarket
segment might indeed push strategic as well as
financial buyers more and more towards smaller deals.
In last year’s M&A monitor, we expressed a clear call for
caution in terms of multiples paid, questioning whether
the elevated acquisition prices still allow to realise returns
that outweigh the risks of the transaction. For the first
time in six years, however, we now observe a slight drop
in EV/EBITDA multiple across all Belgian transactions
from 6.7 to 6.5 (ranging from an average of 4.4 for
deals smaller than €1 million to 9.7 for deals exceeding
€100 million). The minor reduction in multiples is mainly
driven by the smaller deal categories (below €5 million).
Nevertheless, upcoming sellers should not yet panic as
the majority of surveyed experts do not yet predict a
significant decrease in multiples in 2019.
These observations and many other typical deal,
financing and process characteristics are presented and
discussed in detail in the remainder of this document.

Do banks worry about expropriation when an activist hedge fund targets their borrowers or are they reassured that their borrowers will perform better after such targeting? We study 1,435 events from 1996-2013 in which an activist targeted a US corporation to examine what happens to loan contract terms post-targeting. We find that banks charge a higher interest rate for loans made after the activist involvement compared to a matched sample of borrowers that were not targeted. However, we find that the initial stock price reaction to the announcement of an activist intervention is a strong predictor of post-target loan rates. Banks increase the loan rates for those targets that experience a strong positive stock price reaction. These findings suggest that banks adjust their loan pricing to reflect their concerns about wealth expropriation.

Questionnaires using Likert-type rating scales are an important source of data in marketing research. Researchers use different rating scale formats with varying numbers of response categories and varying label formats (e.g., 7-point rating scales labeled at the endpoints, fully labeled 5-point scales, etc.) but have few guidelines when selecting a specific format. Drawing from the literature on response styles, we formulate hypotheses on the effect of the labeling of response categories and the number of response categories on the net acquiescence response style, extreme response style and misresponse to reversed items. We test the hypotheses in an online survey (N = 1207) with eight experimental conditions and a follow-up study with two experimental conditions (N = 226). We find evidence of strong effects of scale format on response distributions and misresponse to reversed items, and we formulate recommendations on the choice of a scale format.

Export search results

The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different
formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export.
The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.